The invention relates to a method for cooking in a cooking device with a cooking space and a measuring device for registering values of at least one doneness quantity relating to a characteristic of the cooking product, the value of which changes on the basis of the cooking process, whereby the instant of the end of the cooking process is extrapolated at various instants during the cooking process upon consulting the respective measurement value last registered and a predetermined end value at the end of the cooking process. It also relates to a cooking device in which such a method is implemented.
There are known devices in which a core temperature sensor can be inserted into a piece of meat, and the cooking process is ended when the core temperature reaches a predetermined value. It can be provided there that different phases of the preparation process are initiated when the core temperature reaches additional predetermined values during the cooking process.
However, these cooking devices enable an optimal cooking process only under very specific conditions with respect to the type, amount and size of the cooking product.
Given a controlling of the cooking process with the aid of the core temperature, an optimal initiating of the browning and crusting phase for pieces of meat of different thicknesses or sizes is not possible, since the value of the core temperature at which the crusting phase must be initiated is different for pieces of meat of different thicknesses.
The time at which a browning or crusting phase must be initiated likewise varies with the thickness and size of a piece of meat, so that, given a pure time control of the cooking process, in which the browning or crusting phase is initiated at a fixed time after the start of the cooking process, when the meat thickness varies, these phases begin too soon or too late, and the piece of meat is browned too little or too much accordingly. The time at which a browning or crusting phase must be initiated also depends on the amount of the cooking product in the cooking space.
There are also known cooking devices in which the user can input the type and amount of a cooking product that is to be prepared and which then specify the required cooking time and the time characteristic of actuating or regulating variables of the cooking device, such as the temperature or the moisture in the cooking space or the microwave power.
With the aid of additional input parameters which are relevant to the time of initiation of various preparation phases, such as the thickness or size of a piece of meat, it would be possible in these devices to achieve a guidance of the cooking process that is more sharply tailored to the specific characteristics of the individual cooking product. But this would require additional measuring and/or weighing processes by the user before starting the cooking device and would lead to an appreciable increasing of the volume of data which the computer unit of the cooking device must store and manage in order to be able to make available the optimal cooking process for the respective conditions.
The reference GB 2 203 320 A teaches a species-related method by which a core temperature is measured and then compared to a control point, in order to predict the instant at which the coking product is done.
EP 0 701 387 A2 discloses a cooking method according to which the doneness of a cooking product is evaluated without identifying it, via moisture measurements, particularly for purposes of determining the end time of the cooking process.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,281,022 teaches a method for cooking thin meat in a microwave oven in which the core temperature is determined via the moisture and the temperature in the cooking space, in order to then be able to compute the doneness.